Appearance of Righteousness

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

APPEARANCE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

John 19:31-42

31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken,"   37 and, as another scripture says, "They will look on the one they have pierced."  

38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.   40 Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

NIV

If Jesus was not divine this would be the end of the story of his life. He is hanging dead on the cross, however as John records not a bone in his body was broken, which was in fulfillment of scripture. Moses had been given instructions to tell the people in preparations for the Passover, they were not to break any of the bones of the Passover Lamb when they killed it and roasted it. Here, the Lamb of God had been sacrificed so for those who believe, the death angel will Passover them.  Although the Jews had just committed murder, in a sense, as they were the ones who were responsible for Pilate having Jesus crucified, now they are concerned about the law, having bodies on crosses during the Sabbath. The law they were observing was that they could not look upon a dead body because they would then be ceremonially unclean. It was alright to have him crucified, but not be dead on a cross during their Sabbath. This is in a sense simply paying attention to the law they want to and ignoring the commands of God, they do not want to such as “You shall not commit murder”.  It seems we believers of today are not much different. What commands of God are we obligated to keep? Are we still under the Law? No, we are not, yet the Ten Commandments are the Law. SO why do we think we need to obey them, but not obey everything Jesus said? Did he not say we are to love our neighbor as ourselves? Do we really do that? It does not appear we do, even within then the church. We have people who get their feelings hurt and stop coming to church. We gossip about others, we hold grudges, we judge, we get jealous or envious of others, we have ill-feeling toward some, or avoid them. With all these human emotions going on, where is the love? Jesus said that even if we have any hatred in our heart we have committed murder. The Jews were just as human as we are, and no matter how spiritual they acted, they were flawed human beings, sinful in their hearts, unable to attain perfection no matter how much of the Law they tried to hold to. So they wanted the bodies down and the Roman soldiers had no reason not to go break the legs of the criminals on the crosses. However, in their cruelty, as men are disposed, they would have preferred to allow those on a cross to die this suffering method of suffocation over an extended period of time. No quick death, it might take days, for them to finally not be able to catch their breath. With their feet nailed to the cross, they would have to push themselves up by their legs to breathe at all because of the weight of their body on their arms which were extended upward and outward. This was a horrible long agonizing way to die. The Jews had submitted Jesus to this type of suffering, yet they were only concerned with the appearance of righteousness. The two men who might have at one time been concerned about appearing righteous were the ones who took Jesus off the cross and prepared him in the traditional method for burial. They, who were once secret in their belief in Jesus were now openly confessing their belief. Both Joseph and Nicodemus took Jesus and did the decent act of washing him, and wrapping his body with spices in linen as was the custom and put his body in a new tomb in the nearby garden. This is also interesting that God chose this specific time in this specific place for Jesus to come to earth. What if he came during our lifetime in our culture? We would have put his body in an airtight sealed metal coffin, then placed that coffin in a concrete value and buried it six feet deep in the ground. Of course, nothing is impossible with God, but it might have been a little more difficult for the resurrection of Jesus to happen, and for someone to see the burial clothe all folded up, and the body is gone. Again, God has everything in control. But we should pay attention to this concept of how the Jews only wanted to appear righteous. Break their legs, so they will die now, so they can be ceremonially clean. Although we too are just flawed humans, we should understand we need to be concerned about not trying to appear righteous when we know full well we are not, for Jesus is our righteousness. What is worse, is that we may even attempt to deceive ourselves thinking we are righteous. So let us not have the appearance of righteousness, but appear as simply believers as Joseph and Nicodemus were.